10 things to watch in Giants vs. Patriots

INJURY REPORT

The final injury report will be released Saturday afternoon.

The final injury report will be released Saturday afternoon.

HOW TO WATCH, LISTEN & STREAM

Announcers: Joe Buck (Play-By-Play), Troy Aikman (Analyst), Lisa Salters (Sideline) and Laura Rutledge (Sideline)

Postgame: Giants Postgame Live presented by Hackensack Meridian Health

MSG Networks, The Gotham Sports App, YouTube, Giants.com, Giants App, Giants TV

Channel: WFAN 101.9PM / 66 AM

Announcers: Bob Papa (Play-by-Play), Carl Banks (Analyst), Howard Cross (Sideline)

Pre- and Postgame: John Schmeelk, Tiki Barber

Pregame: Giants Gameday begins at 11:00 AM, presented by Hackensack Meridian Health.

Postgame: Giants Extra Point

This week’s game can be streamed on NFL+.

BULLEN TAKES OVER AS DC

Kafka made a significant shakeup to the coaching staff on Monday with the dismissal of defensive coordinator Shane Bowen. Outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen will take Bowen’s place for the remainder of the season. The move came after the defense surrendered an average of 31.7 points during the six-game losing streak.

“It’s a player-driven league, there’s no doubt and coming from my perspective, coming from my position room where there’s three first rounders, I understand fully that it’s a talent-driven league and a player-driven league,” Bullen said Friday on what the defense might look like with him at the helm. “So to me, as a coach, my philosophy is always players over plays, and how can we as coaches, even as a position coach, maximize our players’ abilities and put them in position to have success – A, for themselves, maximizing what they’re good at, but then also defensively it helps us.

“If we’re putting (Brian) Burns in advantageous situations or Dex (Lawrence) in advantageous situations or (Jevón) Holland, that helps us. I’d say at this point it’s hard to wholesale change. Not that I’d do that anyway, but we’ve got years and months of time on task in this scheme. And so, I don’t think it’s something you can change completely. I think we can tweak and alter, but as best I can, I just want to put these guys in position to succeed so that their skill sets are maximized and they can play as fast as possible.”

While this will be his first time serving as a defensive play-caller, Bullen brings a lot of experience to the role. He has coached for 18 years, including 12 seasons in the NFL, and has learned under some of the league’s top defensive minds. Between his stints with the Dolphins (2012-18) and Cardinals (2019-22), Bullen spent time learning under Vance Joseph and Matt Burke, both of whom currently lead two of the league’s top defensive units in Denver and Houston, respectively.

“Charlie’s done a really nice job of getting everyone together, getting everyone on the same page,” Kafka said on Wednesday. “Really a couple of good walkthroughs yesterday and today. And just talking with the staff and just the kind of cohesion of how the responsibilities are kind of being spread out. It’s been pretty cool to see. And Charlie’s doing a nice job leading that group.”

CONTAINING DRAKE MAYE

Drake Maye has played a significant role in the Patriots’ dramatic turnaround from last year. One season after going 4-13 with a bottom 3 offense in both points and yards, Maye has lead New England to a league-best 10-2 record, the No. 1 seed in the AFC and a top 8 offense in points and yards.

Through the first 12 games of this season, the second-year quarterback leads the NFL with 3,130 passing yards and a 71.0 completion percentage, while his 21 passing touchdowns rank fourth and his 110.7 passer rating is the third-highest in the league. Maye has also added 307 yards and an additional two touchdowns on the ground as he’s firmly planted himself in the MVP conversation.

“Drake’s been very impressive in year two,” said Kafka. “You saw him make that jump. He’s operating at a high level. He’s creating explosives, things that we saw on tape. And sure, we enjoyed watching him on tape, and he’s doing a nice job for them, and I think it’s really cool to see him play that well.”

Maye has thrown just one touchdown pass in each of the last two games, but this came after a stretch of five consecutive games with multiple touchdown passes. In last week’s win over the Bengals, he completed 62.9 percent of his passes for 294 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Maye has also taken only one sack in each of his last three games, but was sacked six times in both Weeks 8 and 9. His 37 sacks taken are the sixth-most in the NFL, and the Patriots will now likely be without their starting left tackle (Will Campbell) and left guard (Jared Wilson) on Monday after both linemen suffered injuries in last week’s win.